Let's Go 2001: Europe: The World's Bestselling Budget Travel Series [Paperback]

Let's Go Inc. (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 992 pages
• Publisher: Let's Go Publications (December 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312246730
• ISBN-13: 978-0312246730
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,663,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good General Information, November 30, 2000

By 

B. Warrick "Flynnatic" (Marietta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Let's Go 2001: Europe: The World's Bestselling Budget Travel Series (Paperback)

If you are going to Europe for a month or more and have a flexible travel plan (or no real plan at all) and an inflexible budget, this book is for you! Since it covers all of Europe, the information on any given country or city is somewhat limited - but the bottom line is that if you have this book (and a few bucks) in your rucksack, you probably won't have to worry about sleeping in the street or missing a European highlight - even if you decide to get off the train in a particular city on impulse with no reservations....and even less of a clue of what to see and do!

Let's Go does a great job of giving you the best sites, several choices of decent hostels or budget hotels, a list of "hot spots" for meeting folks, and a selection of places to eat cheap - often conveniently broken down by area of the city! These guidebooks have an excellent, readable style, basic maps, and a frank, honest assesment of what you are in for at any given hostel or attraction - often with a little humor thrown in as a bonus (which is, by the way, an attribute which all indy travelers MUST have in abundance).

That having been said, if you have your destination(s) selected in advance and your travel schedule all planned out in detail, you might consider purchasing an appropriate individual country or regional guidebook instead. This book is HEAVY and bulky in a rucksack, so if you know at the outset that you will not be going to most of the countries covered, consider the country guides instead.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Guide yourself through Europe, March 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Let's Go 2001: Europe: The World's Bestselling Budget Travel Series (Paperback)

Went to Europe for 3 weeks a year ago January, and took the 2000 edition of Let's Go Europe with me, and what an invaluable guide! While we wound up in hostels recommended by the guide only about 1/2 the time (and didn't always love them - guess we weren't into the whole true backpacking experience), it was a great start to know where to look. It was also immensely useful for figuring out where to go, what to see, when we could see it and for how much. Found myself frequently walking around acting as tour guide to the rest of my group, reading descriptions from the book. The maps are also really useful for finding your way around the cities. Even though between the six of us, we had 3-4 different Europe guides, Let's Go Europe is the one that we came back to most frequently. After a while, I didn't even bother putting it in my daypack anymore, I just carried it around in my hands. On a side note, the second to last day I was in Europe, my daypack was stolen off of a train with the guide in it... good thing we were so close to the end of the trip...but definitely, heed all advice you get about protecting your stuff!

If you're looking for a nice, preplanned vacation at nice hotels, then Let's Go Europe isn't the book for you. However, if you're travelling through Europe on a lower budget, and are kind of taking things as they come, I highly recommend this book.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful for budget travel but flawed., June 4, 2001

By 

Southern Historian (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let's Go 2001: Europe: The World's Bestselling Budget Travel Series (Paperback)

If you are budget travelling in Europe buy this book (or the appropriate country guide), and then buy a "real" travel guide (i.e. Rick Steves, Frommer, Lonely Planet). Generally, I use this book for accomodation recommendations and eating while I use the other book for information on sites to see. The reason is that these books are poorly written with inscrutable directions and lackluster descriptions of the sites. For example, if you are not already an expert on the forum in Rome, any attempt to use Let's Go to make heads or tails of it will fail utterly. Also, be careful about the information given in the books especially if you go off the Eurrailer trail. I discovered (while in Sicily and Malta) that despite their claims to the contrary, the book is not fully updated every year. The maps are often wrong; half of the hotels may be closed that they list and none of the resaurants may exist anymore. More worrisome, the boat schedules for some minor fairies may not in any way resemble what the book lists. By the end of all of my trips with Let's Go, I had a list of errors written out, ranging from the irritating to the frustrating to the nearly disastrous. So, buy this book if you are budget travelling especially if you are sticking to a standard Eurrail tour, but be careful and take any information about more obscure locations with a huge grain of salt.